Galaxy (https://galaxyproject.org/) is a widely used web-based bioinformatics analysis environment that SANBI has been contributing to since 2012. The Galaxy Africa conference (attended by 44 participants from 7 countries) (http://galaxyafrica.sanbi.ac.za/), was held at SANBI at the University of the Western Cape between 3 and 5 April 2018. It aimed to inform, educate, and bring together bioinformaticians, biologists, and computer scientists from around the African continent.
Topics covered included an introduction to Galaxy, training, practical RNAseq and 16S microbiome analysis, and experience with workflows and Galaxy in bioinformatics and computational chemistry. The final day also featured a special session for those who were either running or planning to run their own Galaxy servers.
We plan to follow up with a Galaxy Africa event alongside the next ASBCB conference (http://www.asbcb.org/), due to be held in Ghana in the last quarter of 2019.
